El Hierro

In October 2025 I travelled to El Hierro, the smallest of the Canary Islands, to test one question: is the island a replicable laboratory of sustainability, or an experiment sustained by conditions no other place can copy? This section gathers everything that came out of that reporting trip: a long-form report, a photo essay, a short film and a podcast, a travel guide and a logbook written before, during and after the trip.

My provisional answer: El Hierro works as a laboratory when it manages limits; it turns into an experiment when success pushes it to ignore them.

El Hierro: A regeneration lab, or a utopian experiment?

The smallest of the Canary Islands has become a global case study in energy sovereignty and sustainable tourism. But can a pioneering model withstand the pressures of its own success?

El Hierro: An Island That Slowed Down

Identity and sustainability at the edge of the Canary Islands: a photo essay from El Hierro, from Gorona del Viento to La Restinga.

El Hierro travel guide: how to get there, where to stay and four itineraries

How to get to El Hierro, when to go, where to stay and four itineraries for diving, hiking, wine and slow travel, from a field guide reported on the island.

El Hierro, the pulse of the Garoé: film and podcast

A short documentary and a podcast episode from El Hierro: six voices on energy, tourism, diving, food and the future of the island’s young people.

The film

El Hierro, the pulse of the Garoé. Transcript and podcast: film and podcast.

The Logbook

Eleven dispatches published on Substack, from the first question to the final answer.

Before the trip

• El Hierro, laboratory of utopia: can an island live off wind and water? · October 2025
• El Hierro, volcanic soul and underwater treasure · October 2025

From the island

• Letter from the Meridian: notes from El Hierro · October 2025
• Letter from the Meridian II: a sensory chronicle between the mist and the lava · October 2025

After the island

• Written in isolation: the history behind herreño resilience · August 2026
• El Hierro’s invisible rain · August 2026
• Loving El Hierro without loving it to death · August 2026
• Valverde: the only Canarian island capital you can’t see from the sea · August 2026
• El Voto: the promise that moves an entire island once every four years · August 2026
• An island powered by the wind, the sea and its own rhythm (podcast) · August 2026
• El Hierro: the answer was never just wind and water · August 2026

A timeline of resilience

• 1634. France formalises the prime meridian through El Hierro. It stays in use until 1884, when Greenwich is adopted.
• 1741. During a severe drought, the island makes a vow, El Voto: the Bajada de la Virgen de los Reyes, roughly every four years.
• 2000. UNESCO declares El Hierro a Biosphere Reserve.
• 2011. The submarine eruption of the Tagoro volcano off La Restinga.
• 2014. Gorona del Viento, the wind-hydro plant, begins operating. The island becomes a UNESCO Global Geopark.
• 2019. The Islas Verdes Law sets a legal ceiling of 3,800 accommodation beds.

El Hierro: the meridian of regeneration was produced as a Master’s Final Project for the School of Travel Journalism, 2026. Reporting, text, photography and film by Covadonga Riesco. With thanks to Cristina Morales, Joanna Rudnik, Davinia Armas, Gisella Horn, Marcos Tavío, Herminio Sánchez and Félix Boda.